Vessel.



A. DINGWALL.

VESSEL.

APPLIOATIOH FILED SEPT.13.1912.

Patented July 1, 1913.

FIG'S.

llllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIII 50 /ilexander omsfian claims.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VESSEL,

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J ul '1 ,1913.

Application filed September 13, 1912. Serial No. 720,178.

T 0 all whom, it may concern:

Be itknown that I, ALEXANDER DINGWALL, residing at 3524: Lagauchetiere street, city of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, a subject-rot tlie King of Great .Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates particularly to vesscls for transporting passengers, freight and live stock, and it has for its objectto reduce the danger of the vessel sinkingwhen its hull is punctured or otherwise damaged.

The invention may be said briefly to con-, sist of an inter-lining or filling for-the walls of the hull, decks and bulkheads consisting of a multiplicity ofindividual-air-tight compartments increasing in capacity from the keel to the gunwale; and'it further consists of the structural features, and combinations and particulararrangements of parts hereinafter described. and pointed .out in the For full comprehension, however, of my inventionreference must behad'to the accompanying drawingsforming apart of this specification inwhich similar reference' chara'cters indicatethezsainexparts, and wherein; Y j I V Figure 1 is-a deck view partly broken away of an ocean going vessel containing y inventi'on, Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view thereof-taken oi'i'line A A Fig. 1; Fig. 3' is a detail perspective view of several of the air tight compartments Fig. 4 is a detail horizontal sectional vyiew taken? through the hull; Fig. 5-is adetailglongi tudinal vertical sectional view-taken throughone of the bulkheadsand-illustrating par-' ticularly the doors in the bulkhead andythe manner of supporting and, releasing the same, one doorbeing shown closed, and the.

other in the act of closingfandin'dotted liiis indicated in supported. position .and just about to close; ,,Fig.;.6 is a horizontal sectional view of a bulkhea -iteken on'line.

B B F ig. 5; F Tisadetaillsectional View of a means for locking the bulkhead doors.

automatically; Fig. 8-is-a detail' view of-a bracket for supporting the weight by which the door is forced to closed pdsition; and Fig. 9 is a detail elevation'of-one of the bolts. by which the air compartments are supported and the three walls of the hull braced.

The frame ot the vessel is constructed and the inner and outer walls I) and c respectively of the hull are set in place. the decks d, e, and f laid and the ceilings g, h, i and s hung all in the usual way. During thi; building operation I locate within the space between the inner and outer walls 7) and ctv partments of largest capacity,being at the gunwale. See Fig. 2.) In this manner the entire hull is made to incase-within its walls a multiplicity of hermetically sealedcoinpartments distinct from each other and increasing upwardly in relative, buoyance owing to their difference-in capacity.

The. bulkheads comprise fore and aft walls m and n between which are located the indi vidual hermetically sealed ai'i ti'ghtcompartments 2; andjthe decks consist of deck boards 0 and ceiling boards 0 between which the compartments are located, the ceilingv boards retaining the compartments in place,

In order to-preventdisplacemcnt of the I compartments within the spaces containing them they are preferably rigidly held by tamping a-suitable filling between the compartments and the ,walls otthej spaces in which they are located. 1

j-In order to further obviate/the danger of the chambers falling from place in the event I of the chambers vbeneath them-being dis-,

placed, each is independently supported by bolts 4;. These bolts project through the inher and middle walls of-the hull and those below the-water 1 line arecarried at their outer ends in seats 5 formed upon the inner side of the outer wall of the hull the portion 6 of their length between the outer and middle walls beingof square cross-section and the remainder rounded as at 7 and having screw-threadedportions 8 and 9. The boltsabove the water linepenetratc the outer wall andare screw-threaded and have nuts 10 screwed thereon and comparatively soft packing washers 11 and metal clamping Washers 1.2 between the nuts and inner wall of the hull. To steadythe bolts in place and at the same time brace and strengthen the hull the rounded portions thereof are swim-threaded in positions contiguous to the middle wall, and their inner ends are diminished to form shoulders bearing against the inner wall with the inner ends projecting through and Comparatively soft packing washers 14 and metal clamping washers 15 are located between the shoulders of the bolts and the outer sides of the walls, and the opposite side of the walls .and nuts 16 screwed upon the bolts.

The advantage of my invention is that the greater buoyancy being at the top of the hull there will be a tendency of the vessel to always maintain a perpendicular position when submerged or partially submerged and consequently to right itself, the effect being that the rolling of the vessel will in a measure be corrected; and in. the event of capsizing and sinking below the surface will rise again with gunwale uppermost.

Another important advantage is that the vessel will remain unsinkable even if a hole is made in her side sufliciently large and enough compartments are destroyed to permit her to fill with water. In such an event the vessel will lie partially submerged and rightside up until the hole is mended and the water is dislodged.

In order to increase the proportion of buoyancy at the top of the vessel I provide openings in the bulkheads for communication between different parts of the vessed by doorways downwardly increasing in width, the efiect being that there will be more buoyancy in 'the upper part of the bulk head than in the lower owing to the portion cut. away by the greater Width of the lower portion of the doorway.

To prevent flooding of other parts of the vessel in the event of an inward rush of water, doirs 20 are hinged at their upper ends to the respective walls ofeach bulkhead and each door is provided with an eye :21 engaged'by the bent.- lower end of a lever 22 projecting upwardly through the deck above. Each door carries also a weighted arm 23 hinged to a bracket 24 hav ing a rest or stop 25 to sustain the arm out of contact with the lower deck when the 'door is closed, and a ledge 26 beneath which the tail of the bar engages simultaneously with its engagement with the stop 25. The

frame of each door carries two pairs of spring locks 27, a pair at. each side of the door opening, adapted to yield and permit screw-threaded.

- ways.

the door to freely pass but spring into position and lock it when closed. Under normal conditions these doors are suspended by the hooks 92, the weighted arms lying upon the doors, and when occasion requires the hooks maybe detached from the doors and the latter allowed to fall. During the fall of the doors the weighted arms are swung out from the doors by gravity until stopped by the rest or stop 25 and ledge 26. The inertia of the weighted arms thus accelerates the fall of the doors and causes them to be driven tightly into the door- In order to make the doors fit the door jainbs more perfectly and to enhance the tightness of the joints, the edges of the doors and the jambs are correspondingly beveled and the jambs are furnished with gaskets.

The doors are prevented from sagging or warping while supported by the hooks,

by a pair of stiffening ribs 30 and 31 heavy.

compartments within the walls of the vessel and of progressively increasing capacity from the keel to the gunwale. 2. In a vessel comprising a hull, decks, and bulk-heads, a multiplicity of individual air tight compartments within the walls of the said members of the vessel, the compartments within the walls of the hull being of progressively increasing capacity from the keel to gunwale. i

3. In a vessel, a multiplicity of air tight compartments within the walls of the vessel and of progressively increasing capacity from the keel to the gunwale, and bolts penetrating the walls beneath the air tight compartments for the purpose of supporting the latter independently ofthe compartments I ALEXANDER DINGWALL.

Witnesses E. R. PITTS, GORDON G. Coons.

fiepte s of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

